Things Only You Know

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Your foot is the same length as your forearm, from elbow to wrist.

[TheLuckyOne]

The phrase "over and out," used in movies and TV during walkie-talkie or radio conversations, would never actually be used in real life. In actual military communication, "Over" is used to signify that you've completed your sentence and are waiting for the other person to respond. "Out" means you're done talking and the conversation is finished. Thus, saying "over and out" means "I've finished what I was saying and await your response, but our conversation is done." It's the equivalent of saying, "So that's why I liked the movie... what did you think? See you later."

-D

[PoolMan]

varana said:

If you meassure in how much you pay per kilo, MacDonalds hamburgers are more expensive than an average car.

Try Starbucks versus gasoline some time. THERE'S some scary math.

Also, Drew, comes the confusion of the word "repeat". In the American military, "repeat" is a command for the other person to speak again. In the British military, it's a command for artillery to fire. That must have made for some interesting scenes in WWII...

[varana]

The Greek national anthem, Hymn to Freedom, has 158 verses.

I pity the school kids having to learn that by heart.

[Razzberryfinn]

In America, at least, wild rabbits cannot breed with domestic, show quality rabbits. The show rabbits were imported from Spain to other countries several hundred years ago, and are a different species than the wild rabbits running around.

Also, in the Great Britain the rabbit breed known as Polish is known as Britannia Petite in America. Americans already had a breed called the Polish.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

The Sun rotates on an axis, but since it is not a solid body, different regions rotate at different speeds. The Sun's equator fully rotates once every 26 days; the further the region is from the equator, the more time it requires to rotate.

[sarahbot]

The Sun accounts for 99.8% of the solar system's mass.

[Head Mutant]

The sun is hot.

[TheLuckyOne]

There are numerous theories for where the phrase "mind your p's and q's" originated, but the one I've heard most often holds that it's old bar terminology. In the old days, bartenders used to keep track of customers' tabs on chalkboards; they'd write patron's names on the board, then for each drink the person imbibed, the bartender would make a mark under either "P" for pint or "Q" for quart. Thus, the phrase "mind your p's and q's" is an admonishment to people to be careful and keep track of how much they drank to be sure they could afford to pay their tabs.

-D

[blinkfan]

I know a guy who killed a goat. (thats something only I know)

[sarahbot]

"Tell me something I don't know."
"I once French-kissed a horse."

(Austin Powers, in case that was weirding you out too much)

[eatmyshorts]

There IS actually a sequel to spinal tap...

[DocD83]

There are numerous theories for where the phrase "mind your p's and q's" originated, but the one I've heard most often holds that it's old bar terminology. In the old days, bartenders used to keep track of customers' tabs on chalkboards; they'd write patron's names on the board, then for each drink the person imbibed, the bartender would make a mark under either "P" for pint or "Q" for quart. Thus, the phrase "mind your p's and q's" is an admonishment to people to be careful and keep track of how much they drank to be sure they could afford to pay their tabs.

I had always heard the one how it originated in printers' shops as an admonishment to be careful when setting type because the mirror image of each looks like the other's regular image.

[StarOpal]

The night of 18 June 1815 was one to remember. After 23 years of war in Europe, Napoleon faced the combined might of England, Holland and Prussia at Waterloo. By 10 pm, the battle was over. The French were defeated and 50,000 men lay dead or wounded on the battlefield. The casualties were high but for one group of people that was reason to celebrate. They were the dentists who were about to benefit from the great tooth bonanza. In the early part of the 19th century, patients with plenty of money but very few teeth were prepared to pay enormous sums for a good set of dentures. The best were made with real human teeth at the front. Most of the time demand for second-hand incisors far outstripped supply, but wars helped make up the shortfall. The windfall from Waterloo provided enough to ship supplies all round Europe and even across the Atlantic. The flood of teeth onto the market was so huge that dentures made from second-hand teeth acquired a new name: Waterloo teeth. Far from putting clients off, this was a positive selling point. Better to have teeth from a relatively fit and healthy young man killed by cannonball or sabre than incisors plucked from the jaws of a disease-riddled corpse decaying in the grave or from a hanged man left dangling too long on the gibbet.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

The popular dog name "Fido" comes from the Latin word fides, meaning "trusting" or "reliable"; Fido, in Latin, means "I trust."

Fides is also part of the root of the word bonafide. Bona fide is Latin for "In good faith."